


The Scars That Spell Your Name

by Decoy10



Category: 13 Reasons Why (TV)
Genre: Drug Use, Gen, Kidnapping, Not Canon Compliant
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:42:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 18,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26728387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Decoy10/pseuds/Decoy10
Summary: Justin was walking home one night when he noticed several police cars going in the direction of his new home. His worst fears were confirmed when he arrived and found that Clay was nowhere to be found. Now he has to figure out what happened to his brother and get him home safely, but nothing in life is ever as easy as it seems.
Relationships: Justin Foley & Clay Jensen
Comments: 8
Kudos: 36





	1. Bye Brother

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Justin gets home to find that Clay is missing, and proceeds to freak out before resolving to do everything he can to find him. Meanwhile, Clay wakes up in a lot of pain with no idea where he is, but soon finds out who brought him there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So to start, this is my first time writing for this show, so hello 13 Reasons Why fans. I'm doing my best to keep everyone in character, but nobody's perfect so forgive me if I mess it up now and then. This fic fits somewhere in between seasons 2 and 3, so Bryce is alive, and they haven't met Ani yet. At least for now. I'll be putting trigger warnings in the notes at the beginning of each chapter, so read that to know what specifically will be going on. Otherwise, hope you enjoy and I'll see you again in the notes at the bottom.
> 
> TW: Drug use, kidnapping

Goosebumps formed on Justin’s arms as he walked back home that night after football practice. He had stayed behind a bit later than usual to talk with Zach, and now he was seriously regretting leaving his jacket at home this morning. Bringing his hands up to rub some warmth back into his arms, he decided to look at the stars for no real reason other than to see them shining. It felt like it had been years since the last time he did something simple like this just because, and he smiled as he thought about how if Clay were here he’d start describing all the different constellations and their meanings. Justin would roll his eyes and tease his brother for being a nerd and they would bicker lightheartedly the entire way home.

It was hard for Justin to wrap his head around having a stable family, with parents that cared about his well-being, and a brother who he could trust with anything. A real brother, not Bryce’s twisted idea of what a brother should be. Justin spent a lot of time thinking about families and brotherhood these days, thanking any gods in existence for letting Clay find him that day in Oakland. If Clay had never found him, and never helped him get through his addiction and testimony, there was a very real chance that Justin could be dead in a ditch right now. However, he now had people who wanted him, and he owed it all to the person he now called his brother. Although with his relapse, he had been feeling a bit unworthy of all the affection the Jensens were showing him.

Justin was pulled from his thoughts by the sirens of a police car driving by. The area was peaceful enough that he was slightly curious about what could be happening, but there wasn’t much reason to worry so he pushed it out of his mind and continued his walk through the cold night. However, after the second and third police cars passed him, he began to get a bit worried and picked up the pace. By the time the fourth car had gone by, he was sprinting top speed back to the Jensen household, and when the house finally came into view, the slight seed of worry grew into full blown panic. 

There were police cruisers surrounding the house, and it looked like they were starting to put up caution tape to block anyone from entering the scene. Justin had stopped running at some point, and although he knew he had to get to the house and make sure everything was okay, he couldn’t bring himself to move. This was the first place he had truly felt safe, and some small part of him hoped that if he just walked away now, then he could come back tomorrow and nothing will have changed. He could walk into the main house and Lainie would be preparing breakfast while Matt sat at the table drinking his coffee just like any other morning. And Clay would… As soon as he thought of Clay, Justin muttered “Fuck,” before sprinting towards the house once more. Clay was the only person home tonight.

By the time Justin actually reached the front door, caution tape had been placed all over it, but he simply tore it down and entered the house yelling “Clay! Where are you?! Clay!” 

It didn’t take long for an officer to come up to the door; he looked fairly young, and was most likely new. “I’m sorry, but you can’t be here right now. We’re investigating a crime scene.”

Panic turned to rage and Justin lashed out at him. “Yeah? Well fuck you I live here. Where’s Clay?”

“Excuse me?!” The officer exclaimed, clearly surprised by Justin’s outburst. After taking a moment to compose himself however, he said, “Alright well, if you live here then I’d like you to go down to the station so we can hear anything you know about this incident. I’ll have one of the oth-”

“I don’t even know what this fucking _incident_ you’re talking about is!” Justin cut him off, “I just want to know where my brother is, so if you can’t tell me then find someone who can.” He knew on some level that this officer was only doing his job, but Clay should’ve shown himself by now, and the fact that he hadn’t was concerning. If something had happened to him, then… well Justin wasn’t sure what he would do other than yell at the stars.

It seemed like a lifetime ago that Clay first brought Justin back from Oakland, and ever since then he felt that they were growing really close, like real brothers. He would have Clay’s back in any situation, and he hoped the reverse would hold true as well. The concern he felt for Clay’s safety only served to hammer home that point to him, and he was honestly pretty fed up with this useless cop who couldn’t even tell him one simple piece of information. Wasn’t it his job to know exactly what happened here? Logically he knew that because they were still investigating the scene, the officers probably wouldn’t have concrete answers for him, but just as Justin was starting to calm down a bit, he noticed the smashed vase with a splatter of red next to it. His panic immediately shot up twentyfold, and he started screaming for Clay again, but this time two other officers came to assist the one he had been speaking with up to this point.

“Listen young man,” one of the new ones began, “you can’t just come onto a crime scene and do whatever you want. Calm down and leave right now, or we’ll remove you ourselves.”

Not thinking clearly, or perhaps not thinking at all, Justin shoved the cop and responded, “Oh so you think you can just make me leave, huh?” The officers looked at each other before nodding and grabbing Justin by the arms to drag him out of the house, kicking and screaming the whole way. “This is fucking bullshit! Why are you bringing me out here instead of doing your goddamn job and telling me where my brother is?!” 

Despite his protests, the officers took him all the way to the curb, and threatened to arrest him if he tried to enter the house again. Although he was willing to fight the cops to figure out what happened to Clay, he knew that ending up in a cell would only make things worse, so he kicked the curb and debated what to do next. It had become pretty obvious that Clay wasn’t inside the house at least, but that was exactly the problem. If Clay wasn’t here, then where else could he be? Justin doubted he would be at the police station, since the officers would’ve mentioned something about bringing a boy there for questioning. The shattered vase and what Justin really hoped hadn’t been blood (but knew it definitely was) pointed to something much more serious happening. 

It was at this point that Justin noticed Clay’s car still parked on the curb outside the house, and with the police focusing on the interior of the house, Justin decided now would be the perfect time to investigate on his own. He walked to the car and decided to try his luck with the door, noting with surprise that it was unlocked, since Clay was too cautious to leave it unlocked even with how safe the area is. Justin smiled a bit as he thought of the few times he and Clay had argued over whether or not it mattered if the car was locked, but his smile fell nearly immediately after remembering why he was looking here in the first place. 

Checking once over his shoulder to make sure that none of the cops were coming outside, he climbed into the passenger side and began searching. He looked through the glovebox, in the console, on top of the dashboard, and even got on his hands and knees to look under the seats, but so far all he had found was an empty bag of chips he had thrown in the back seat and forgot to clean up. He was about ready to give up the search entirely when he heard a familiar noise coming from in between the back seats. Reaching his hand into the tight space, he fished around for a bit before finally managing to pull out Clay’s phone, which was definitely suspicious.

By the time he managed to get the phone, the ringing had stopped, so he checked to see who had called and saw several missed calls and a few texts from Tony. Unfortunately for him, this happened to be the moment that the cops decided to investigate outside, and seeing him with his head in the car didn’t exactly improve their already low opinions. “Hey, what are you doing over there! We already told you to stay out of our way!”

Justin turned and placed Clay’s phone into his back pocket, making sure to keep it hidden from view, and saw the two officers from before walking towards him. He put a huge fake smile on his face, he didn’t exactly have a high opinion of the officers either, and said, “Oh I’m so sorry officers. I was just curious if the key was inside. I’ll stay out of your way now, I promise.” He stepped aside, ignoring the suspicious looks from the officers, and began walking down the street to make a call. When he was sure the cops were out of earshot, he pulled out his own phone and scrolled through his contacts to call Tony. 

It didn’t take long before Tony answered with a very frustrated tone. “Oh good, at least one of the Jensens knows how to use a phone. Clay and I were supposed to hang out tonight, but he isn’t responding to me. Where’s your brother at Justin?” 

Ignoring the conflicted feelings that arose at being called a Jensen, he replied, “I was honestly hoping you could tell me man. I just got home and there are cops all over. Clay’s not here. I just walked down the street a bit to call you and see if you had any idea where he is.”

“Oh shit, really?” Tony said, “Alright stay put, I’m coming by to get you and we can talk a bit more. Maybe text some of the others and see if he’s with them.”

The adrenaline was finally starting to die down, and the stress, fear, and worry caught up to Justin all at once. “Yeah okay… I’m just, really worried about him. I mean, there was blood on the floor and...” He stopped himself from continuing, not wanting to acknowledge the possibility the Clay could be hurt, or worse.

He could hear Tony sigh on the other end and say, “Yeah, I’m worried too. We’ll find him though, we owe him that much at least for everything he’s done for us this past year.” Justin tried to smile as he thought of all the times Clay had supported him recently. “All right, I’m driving now so I have to hang up. Text the others, and stay calm. Clay’s tough. If anything did happen, I’m sure he’s fine.” 

After exchanging goodbyes, he sank down to sit on the curb, burying his head in his hands. He hadn’t realized it before, but he was shaking pretty badly now. He wondered when he had grown so attached to the person he had once suggested killing, and wiped away the few tears that had started forming in the corners of his eyes. If Clay really was missing, then he needed to be strong and focus on the task at hand to have any chance of finding him. 

Rather than let himself continue to sit there and assume the worst, he texted the rest of his friends like Tony had suggested. Alex was the first to respond, giving a sarcastic remark and promising to ask his dad about it. Zach was the next, his text simply reading “ _Sorry man, don’t know anything. Hope you find him._ ” 

It was Jess’s text that made him really start to sweat though. “ _I haven’t heard anything about that. Are you OK? Did you already tell your parents? I’m here if you need me._ ” He hadn’t even thought about telling Matt and Lainie that Clay was missing, although if the police were here then maybe they already knew. Wouldn’t they have called to tell him if that were the case though? Regardless of what the circumstances were, Jess had a point that he should call them about this, even if he really didn’t want to be the one to tell them their son was missing.

Sucking in a breath, he went into his contact list once more and hovered his finger over the button to call Lainie… and then turned the display off before putting the phone back into his pocket. He couldn’t be the one to break the news to them, and besides, he and Tony were probably going to drive around for a bit and figure this all out. They’d go look for Clay, and when they found him he’d be a bit shaken up but totally fine. Justin shivered as a cold wind blew around him, and he really hoped that wherever Clay was, he was inside at least. He knew firsthand how cold it could get at night when you didn’t have anywhere to stay.

He spent the next several minutes trying to keep himself calm while he waited for Tony to arrive. When the red mustang finally pulled up next to him, he wordlessly opened the door and got in the passenger seat. Tony started driving, and waited for Justin to start the conversation, but when it became clear that his passenger wasn’t saying anything he spoke up. “So are you going to tell me what happened or am I supposed to read your mind?” Justin chuckled at the sense of normalcy and calm Tony was bringing, and used that to ground himself in reality instead of the different scenarios he had been imagining. 

Justin explained everything that had happened up until this point, starting with coming home late and ending with the texts, choosing to leave out the part about not calling Matt and Lainie. Walking through the sequence of events again, he couldn’t help but feel he was somewhat responsible for all of this. If he had just left practice a bit earlier then maybe Clay would still be here. Tony drove around while listening to Justin’s story, and once he finished, Tony pulled into a nearby parking lot and stopped the car before turning to Justin and saying, “How are you so sure he’s missing? I mean, it could be something else, right?”

Justin hadn’t really stopped to think about any other options before this point. He had just assumed that Clay was gone because the officers refused to tell him anything, but it was true that they didn’t explicitly say they didn’t know where Clay was. He ran through a quick mental checklist of possibilities that might have happened. _Ran away? No, Clay’s not like that. Hospital maybe? But the cops definitely would’ve said something about that. At the station for questioning? Maybe, but the blood is giving me a bad feeling. Dea- nope, not thinking about that_. In the end, Justin shrugged and said, “It’s the only thing that makes sense, just trust me on this.”

Tony put a hand to his forehead and muttered some words in Spanish before turning to Justin and replying, “Alright fine, here’s what we’ll do. It’s already pretty late tonight, so I don’t think there’s much point in trying to find him now.”

Justin shot up in his seat as soon as he heard that. “Seriously?! You just wanna leave him out there?! What if he’s bleeding out in some ditch somewhere?!” Tony put his hands up in mock surrender, and also to let him know he wasn’t finished.

“Chill out man. I’m not saying we should abandon him, but there’s nothing we can do right now. Our best option is to go home, and prepare to spend all day looking tomorrow. Given what’s going on I think we would both end up skipping school either way. We should ask everyone to meet us in the morning before they go to class and ask them to keep an ear out.” Justin knew that what Tony was saying made sense, but he still didn’t like the idea of having to spend a night not knowing if Clay was safe. 

Begrudgingly, he conceded to Tony’s idea, but before he let the other drive him home he said, “Before we go back though, there’s somewhere I want to check.” Tony raised an eyebrow and asked where they were heading. “Bryce’s house.” 

Justin really hoped he was just overreacting, but he had suddenly remembered the last time Clay was nowhere to be found late at night. The image of Clay pointing a gun at himself was permanently seared into his brain, and it was the only place Justin could think of that might be worth checking. Tony, of course, had no idea about what happened that night, but thankfully didn’t question why Justin would want to go there of all places. The two didn’t exchange any words during the drive this time, but the sound of his own heart beating was deafening and all he could think was _Please let me be wrong_.

As they got closer to the house, Tony slowed down before stopping a block away and motioning for him to get out. “I’m trusting you by coming here, but I can’t go all the way there. His family already doesn’t like me, and I’m not about to make that worse. You go check for Clay and I’ll wait here for you to come back, got it?” 

Nodding before exiting the car, Justin walked the rest of the way to Bryce’s house. As the house came into view, a surge of relief flooded over him since he couldn’t see any sign of Clay anywhere. It still sucked that he was missing, but at least Justin could quell his fears that Clay might be on the verge of doing something reckless… again.

It took less than ten minutes for him to check out the area and make it back to the car, but when he got back he could tell that Tony was agitated. He quickly got in and they sped away before Justin even had a chance to put on his seatbelt. He wanted to ask what had Tony so freaked out, but it wasn’t really his business, and history had shown that when he stuck his nose where it didn’t belong people tended to suffer for it. Luckily for him, he didn’t have to endure an awkward car ride because Tony broke the silence. “So I take it he wasn’t there?”

“No, thankfully.” Justin shook his head, “Is it weird that I’m glad I didn’t find him there?”

Tony glanced at him before returning his attention to the road. “Well I don’t know Justin. Is it weird that you thought Clay would be at Bryce’s house?” 

Although Tony had trusted Justin’s instincts, it was clear that he wasn’t exactly pleased about being kept in the dark. “Look, I’m not going to ask why. Not yet at least. Clay needs to be our top priority and quite frankly, I don’t want to deal with any more secrets for a long while.” Justin nodded and the rest of the trip was filled with pointless small talk to fill the silence, simply because it provided a good distraction for the two.

When they finally made it back to the Jensens’ house, Justin noticed that only one police car remained, and figured that the others must have gone back to the station. He also noticed that standing at the doorstep was the first officer he encountered earlier, and she was speaking with Matt. 

He thanked Tony for the ride, but before he got too far his friend called out, “Hey Justin. Don’t get in the way of the cops, alright? We’re both on thin ice, with me at two strikes and you on probation.” He nodded to Tony, watching him drive off, before groaning and bringing both hands up to his face. He had completely forgotten about his probation, and he was definitely going to be in huge trouble for how he acted towards the officers earlier. 

Justin didn’t really want to deal with any potential family drama right now, so he made his way to the outhouse, bypassing the main house completely. When he got inside, he didn’t bother locking the door, knowing that Matt and Lainie would eventually want to come inside to make sure he was safe. A small part of him also hoped that Clay would somehow magically turn up in the middle of the night, so he wanted to make sure their space was easily accessible. Flopping face first onto his bed, he put his phone on the shelf next to him, before rolling over and pulling his gym bag out from under his bed. He pulled Clay’s phone out of his back pocket, and dug to the bottom of his bag so he could hide it easily. While going through his bag, he pulled out the can of shaving cream he kept for emergencies, biting his lip and debating whether it was worth shooting up. He knew he shouldn’t, and that if Clay or anyone else found out he was still using they would be beyond disappointed, but the stress of the day was proving to be too much for him, and he needed a little help to calm down.

He didn’t have much time before the Jensens would check on him, so he would have to make this fast. It would all work out for the best anyway, so he won’t be a nervous wreck all day tomorrow while looking for Clay. He brought his paraphernalia into the bathroom so he could at least hide it if someone entered the outhouse, and measured the correct dose before mixing it and letting the drug do its job. He allowed the calm to wash over him for a moment before exiting the bathroom and hiding everything again. With both Clay’s phone and his stash safely hidden in his gym bag, Justin finally felt ready to just let the day end. He laid on his bed, hoping that he would be able to fall asleep, but wondering how that could even be possible when one of the most important people in his life was missing. Regardless, he closed his eyes, and found that sleep came a bit easier than he thought it would as his breathing slowly evened out, and he surrendered to unconsciousness.

* * *

Clay’s eyes only opened for a moment before he shut them tightly and moved his hand to his head, where he could feel a painful throbbing and some dried blood crusting his hair. It wasn’t the best awakening he’d ever had, but his head didn’t seem to be actively bleeding, so he supposed it could be worse. Although he could do without the lingering pain and throbbing headache making it difficult to think clearly. He slowly opened his eyes again, trying to ignore the pain shooting through his head, and looked around to figure out where he was. There were a few bulbs around the room, bathing it in a dim light that was probably good for his headache, but not very helpful to make out his surroundings. 

Despite not being able to see anything, he was still able to hear just fine, and although the nearby yelling made his head ache, he strained himself to listen. “Fucking idiot! That’s… wrong kid… with this...” Clay wasn’t able to make out much, and what he did hear didn’t really give him many answers, so he decided that rather than listen in, he would try and get out of here for now.

The pain in his head had become a bit more bearable once he stopped straining himself to listen to the voices, so he made his best effort to get up and out of there before anyone could come to stop him. He had no idea what these people wanted with him, but waking up injured in a dark room usually didn’t have good implications. Standing proved to be more of a struggle than he had thought it would be, but by using a nearby pole he managed to get on two feet. Once he was standing, he felt a dizzy spell come over him, but shrugged it off and started walking in the direction he had heard the voice from. At the very least he could be sure that there was more space there, and hopefully an exit too.

Unfortunately, he only made it a few feet before he felt something tug on his legs and he came crashing down, exclaiming, “Ow, fuck!” The pain made his vision go dark for a moment, but after some time passed and heavy breathing, he regained his sight. He turned his gaze towards his legs, and, blaming his headache for not noticing it before, Clay saw that there was a chain tied around his ankles keeping him attached to the pole he had used to stand. It was painfully obvious that he wouldn’t be able to do anything about that at the moment. He wasn’t especially strong even when he could see straight, so trying to do anything when he was in this sorry state would be pointless.

Sighing, he crawled back over to the pole he was at before and sat against it, figuring that if he couldn’t escape right now, he should at least try to save his energy for when he did have a chance. Since he was stuck here for the time being, the next best move seemed to be running through the events that led here so he could figure why exactly he was chained to some random pole in a dark room. 

_Let’s see. I remember someone pounding on the door, and when I went to tell them to knock it off… What happened after that? This is really not the time to be having memory issues Clay. I need to focus. Alright so I went to stop whoever it was from smashing the door in… and then when I opened it there was some huge guy standing there._

Groaning he slumped down even further along the pole as he tried to remember anything else. Obviously at some point he had to hit his head on something, but because of that he was having a hard time figuring out why he was here. He racked his brain to try and think of anything else he could do, but he had exhausted every option he could think of at that point. The only thing left for him to do now was wait and see how everything played out.

He didn’t have to wait long though, because he heard a door open from the same direction the yelling had been, and steady footsteps making their way to him. He was lucid enough to try and gauge the distance to the door based off the number of steps, and was surprised at how large the room seemed to be. When the footsteps finally stopped, he looked up to see a man he didn’t recognize; but the man certainly seemed to know who he was. “So you’re Justin’s new ‘family’ huh?” 

Clay glared at the man in response, and refused to open his mouth to respond, but he wondered how this man knew Justin. If he was connected to Justin’s past, then it was probably something to do with drugs or his time spent homeless, but that didn’t help Clay figure out who this could be. The finer details of Justin’s time spent on the streets was a conversation they hadn’t had yet; he wanted Justin to open up about that on his own, rather than being forced to.

The man ignored Clay’s silence and continued, “How is little Justin doing anyways? You know, it was supposed to be him sitting here instead of you, but I can make this work.” 

_So this guy has some beef with Justin apparently, but that still doesn’t tell me who he is. Whatever, I just need to keep my mouth shut and protect Justin. Or maybe I can figure out what he wants and think of a way to keep him away from us._

“What do you want with Justin?” Clay finally asked, “And with me for that matter?” 

The man grinned and said, “Oh so you can talk. Good, I was worried this wasn’t going to work out after all. As for what I want with the two of you, well, Justin still needs to pay me back for that money he took. And you are going to help me get what I want.”

The pieces finally clicked as Clay figured out who the man in front of him was. “Seth.” He said, his voice dripping with venom. 

Justin had once told Clay that if he ever found himself anywhere near Seth, he should get out of there as soon as possible. The man was dangerous, always angry with a temper and tendency towards violence. Justin had stolen a gun from him for christ’s sake, and it seemed plausible it wasn’t the only one he owned.

“Oh so you’ve heard of me? Good, then you know exactly what’ll happen if you don’t behave, and I’m sure Justin doesn’t want to get you back in pieces.” 

_Well at least he plans to let me leave at some point._ Clay thought, _but I’d rather not wait around for that._ “So you want money? Hate to break it to you, but Justin and I don’t have much to give.”

Seth chuckled and said, “Oh I know that. I was gonna have him work for me to pay off the debt, but then you arrived and I thought of something much more fun.” Clay didn’t like the manic look in the other man’s eyes, and having heard about how violent Seth was, he was prepared to fight if need be. However, Seth simply said, “I can get my revenge in other ways, and that’s exactly what you’ll help me do.”

Clay continued glaring, but also shifted to looking confused as well. “Why would I help you do anything? You tortured Justin for so long, it’s your fault he was…” He couldn’t let himself finish that sentence. Even if it was his place to talk about Justin’s life on the streets, he didn’t want to give Seth the satisfaction of knowing how hard Justin had it.

Seth’s grin only grew wider, and Clay knew there had to be something he was missing. “Oh don’t worry kid, you don’t have to do anything. Just sit still and behave yourself so I don’t have to kill you.” With that, Seth left the room the same way he entered, leaving Clay alone in the dim lighting once more.

After Seth left the room, all of Clay’s energy left his body at once, and he sank even further into the ground than before. He spent the next few minutes trying to figure out what Seth meant by using him to get revenge on Justin. It didn’t seem like he wanted money anymore, and if he wasn’t outright killing Clay then nothing made sense. The harder Clay tried to think it through, the more his head hurt, and eventually he had to stop just so that he wouldn’t pass out from pain. 

By this point, Clay had figured out that he most likely had a concussion at least, and should probably check himself over for any other injuries. He started shaking out various parts of his body, and looking over himself to make sure there was nothing else noticeably painful. It took a few minutes, but by the end he was relieved to discover that the worst he had was a few bruises. After confirming that he was fine, a yawn surged through his body, and he was confused as to how he could possibly be tired after everything that just happened. But without having any way to leave, a little bit of extra rest didn’t sound like the worst idea in the world. The ground wasn’t especially comfortable, but he still spread out as best he could before bringing his arms under his head as a makeshift pillow, and closing his eyes to let sleep take over, hoping that when he next awoke, he would be able to figure out a way out of this mess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that was chapter 1. Not much to say honestly, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed. I don't have a set upload schedule for this, but I do have the first several chapters written already, so hopefully I'll be able to remain consistent. Well, until next time I suppose.


	2. The Search Begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Justin is woken up by Matt and Lainie when they check to see if he's okay. When morning comes, he meets up with his friends and works with Tony to try and think of anything that could lead him to Clay. On Clay's end, Seth starts playing mind games while Clay struggles to figure out what the dealer wants with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Minor references to drug use, minor violence

When he first felt someone shaking him awake, Justin groaned and tried to push them away, not wanting to get up from the peaceful sleep he had been having. “Justin, honey, wake up.” He tried to pull the covers over his head so that whoever was bothering him would go away, but they just sighed and yanked the covers right back off of him. “You can go back to sleep later. We have to talk to you, it’s important. Something… something’s happened to Clay.” Upon hearing the name, Justin immediately shot up wide awake, suddenly remembering that he didn’t have time to be sleeping when Clay needed his help.

He looked over to the other bed and sees it empty, before looking through the rest of the room to see Lainie crouching down next to him, and Matt sitting in one of the chairs at the counter. Darkness was all that could be seen outside the windows, and the only light came from the small lamp next to his bed. Lainie opened her mouth to speak again, but Justin was faster. “Where’s Clay did he come home is he safe did the cops tell you anything?” 

Matt and Lainie shared a look, and probably would’ve found the rapid fire barrage of questions amusing under any other circumstances, but there was nothing funny about their son being missing. “Slow down Justin, that’s what we want to talk about.” Matt said, “First of all, he has not come home yet. We’re moving forward with this as a missing persons case, and the police are out looking for him right now. Our job is to help them however we can, and so we want you to tell us if you know anything about where Clay might be.”

After a short pause so Justin could catch his breath, Lainie asked, “Actually, how did you already know Clay was missing?”

Justin’s face paled and he sheepishly said, “Uh, well I got home when the cops were still investigating…” He trailed off, but Lainie urged him to continue, “I might have sort of shouted at them and maybe… pushed one of them…”

Lainie brought a hand to her forehead and sighed before saying, “Really Justin? We have enough going on with Clay missing, we don’t need you doing anything risky while you’re still on probation.”

Justin muttered a quiet apology, but Matt spoke in his defense. “Now hold on Lainie, I’m sure he was just worried about Clay, same as we are. Who knows, the officers may not even say anything about it, I’m sure they recognize that this is an emotional situation for us.” 

Lainie shook her head before replying, “No, I know. I’m sorry, it’s just really stressful right now.”

“Yeah no, I get it. So uh, did the cops tell you what they were gonna do or how they were gonna find him? They  _ will _ find him, right?” Justin had never heard his voice sound so weak before, even when he was pleading with his mother to choose him over her shitty boyfriends.

Lainie gave him a small smile and said, “Of course they will sweetheart. We just need to give them some time and Clay will be home before you know it.” Justin took a few deep breaths to calm down before she continued. “Now then, there’s another reason we came to wake you up.”

Matt stepped in to say, “We came in here to make sure that you were safe, and we’re very thankful that you are. To make sure that doesn’t change, we would really prefer if you slept in the main house, at least for now.”

Justin should’ve expected them to request that of him; they’d already lost one of their kids, and unlike his mother, they panicked if he didn’t check in by 10 every night. He didn’t want to cause any more trouble, so he acquiesced without complaint, and moved to get up from the bed. 

“Is there anything you need to bring in with you?” Lainie asked.

He shook his head and replied, “No, other than my phone I can just grab anything I need in the morning before school.”

Matt and Lainie gave him small smiles and went to the main house ahead of him, so he grabbed his phone and powered it on to check for any notifications. He saw that sometime after he fell asleep, Tony had started a new group chat with him, Alex, Jess, and Zach.

_ Tony: Hey guys, emergency meeting at Monet’s tomorrow before school. Justin has some more to say. _

_ Jess: Is this about Clay? I’ll be there _

_ Alex: Got it _

_ Zach: Still can’t find him?  _

_ Tony: Like I said, Justin has the details. Just meet us there. _

Justin had completely forgotten to text everyone after coming home, so he was glad that Tony had the presence of mind to pick up the slack. He decided to send a confirmation of his own before leaving the outhouse, figuring that everyone would see it when they woke up in the morning.

_ Justin: Hey sorry I didn’t reply. Stress made me pass out early, but yeah Clay’s still missing, I’ll tell you more later. _

He pocketed his phone and stepped outside to a chilly breeze. It had only gotten colder since his walk home, and his current state of undress didn’t make it any better. He quickly walked across the lawn into the main house, trying to get back to the warmth of a bed as soon as possible. Entering the kitchen, he saw Lainie sitting at the table with various files spread around her, and a pot of coffee brewing to the side. 

When she noticed Justin come in, she said, “Your and Clay’s old room is all set. We’ll see you in the morning. Don’t worry, everything will be alright honey.”

“Are you planning on staying out here all night?”

She nodded and replied, “I’m not very good at relaxing in situations like this. I find it’s much more productive to get my nervous energy out by channeling it into my work.” She walked to him and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “All you need to focus on is getting a good night’s rest, and going to school in the morning. We’ll do everything we can to find him, so you don’t need to worry about it.”

Justin’s phone dinged to signal a new message, and at Lainie’s look he said, “I asked the others to meet me tomorrow before school. They’re all worried too, and I just wanted to make sure everyone’s okay.”

Lainie smiled and she replied, “I take it you won’t be joining us for family breakfast then?” At his nervous nod, she continued, “Well, that’s fine. As long as you check in with us before you leave. We need to talk about a few things that we need you to do for us. That can wait until morning though.”

After that, she returned to her work at the table, and Justin went upstairs to Clay’s old room, looking around at the familiar posters that had been left behind when they moved into the outhouse. This room was sentimental to Justin, since it was where he and Clay originally bonded. After taking a moment to take in the sights, he closed the door quietly behind him before unlocking his phone to check who had texted him. 

_ Jess: Hey, I just wanted to check in on you without the others. Are you doing okay? I know that the Jensens are the only real family you've had, and Clay's the one who brought you in. _

His breath caught in his throat as he read the text; Jess had cut out all bullshit and got right to the heart of the matter, as usual. It hurt to read, but he couldn't deny the truth of her words, and it reminded him once more of exactly why Clay was so important to him. Clay is the one that showed him how people can be kind without strings attached, and was proving to be a pretty great example of what a brother should act like. Justin was smiling, but his eyes still stung with tears as he lost himself in thoughts about his brother. 

He knew technically the adoption hadn’t been finalized yet, but from what he heard it was basically a formality at this point, and he really did think of Clay as his true brother. It was a weird feeling for Justin, being so concerned about someone else that you get complete tunnel vision and don’t care about anything else. He had been worried for others’ safety before of course, but he had never had a true family to worry about, or a brother to protect. He supposed the worrying was just part of the territory when you had a family that actually cared about each other, but it was still new and weird for him.

Blinking the tears away he quickly replied that he was fine and would talk with her more in the morning. After that, he turned off his phone and laid on Clay's old bed, but made no attempt to fall asleep. Lainie’s method of dealing with trauma may be to work, but Justin had gotten used to repressing his emotions; hiding the pain until he had no other choice but to let it out. In the past, Jess had been there for him during hard times, before that was Bryce (though he had always made fun of Justin's weakness), and even Hannah that night after their date. He had royally fucked up with her, but although he would always feel some amount of guilt, he was past the point of getting emotional about that particular issue.

The current situation was different for Justin though, and he didn't want to force his emotions down like usual. He wanted to scream in rage, and cry in sorrow, and shake in fear. He wanted to let his hurt loose, but the only person he trusted enough to show that side of himself to, was Clay.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by a knock on the door. It opened slowly, and Matt poked his head in to ask, “Hey kid, you all good in there?”

Justin sat up and called back, “Yeah I’m fine, just thinking.”

"If you want to talk, you know that Lainie and I are always here for you."

Justin nodded and replied, "Yeah, I know. You guys are good parents." He didn't need to mention that his only other example of a parental figure had set a low bar.

Matt gave him a polite smile, attempting to reassure him, before saying, "Thanks kid. If you don't need anything else, I'll see you in the morning?"

"Uh, sure, but I'm heading out early. Meeting everyone before school. They’re all worried too."

Matt's smile dropped slightly, and Justin wondered if he was upset about people outside the family knowing what happened. It was back quick enough however, and Matt said, "Okay. I'll let you get some sleep now. Good night."

The door closed quietly, and Justin was once again left alone with his thoughts, but rather than let anxiety consume him, he tried to sleep, knowing that he would need to be alert if he wanted to stand any chance of finding his brother tomorrow. Unfortunately, although he was able to fall asleep, his rest was anything but peaceful. He was plagued throughout the night with dreams about Clay being tortured, Clay being hurt, Clay dying. Each new vision was unbearable to watch, but he was forced to look on, unmoving as Clay suffered. Trapped in his nightmares, it took far too long for Justin’s alarm to wake him up, covered in sweat. 

With a shaky hand, he reached over to shut off his alarm while trying to slow his frantic breathing. He was awake now, but his mind kept replaying the horrible visions he had seen throughout the night. His dreams had shown Clay in many of the same positions he had found himself in growing up, and he hoped that the world wouldn’t be so cruel as to put someone he cared about in such danger. Living through it himself was bad enough, and it was tearing him apart that Clay could be in a similar situation, and he had no power to stop it.

After some time, he managed to calm down slightly, and standing up, he rubbed his eyes and walked to the bathroom to wash the sweat off in the shower. He dragged his feet the entire way, sluggish and fatigued from his difficult night. He turned on the shower, and tried to wash quickly so that he would have plenty of time to get to Monet’s. Stepping out, he wrapped a towel around himself and walked downstairs where he noticed Lainie’s work still covering the entire table, although she was nowhere in sight. He walked through the kitchen and opened the back door into the yard to make his way to the outhouse, where he got dressed and grabbed what he would need to make it look like he was going to school. He made sure to pocket Clay’s phone, since it was the only potential lead he had at the moment, although he wasn’t entirely sure what he would do with it. 

There were no new messages in the group chat since the one he had sent, so he assumed that everyone simply expected to talk about everything when they met up. He was finally ready to leave about twenty minutes after getting up, but before he left, he walked back into the kitchen to say goodbye to Matt and Lainie. They were sitting at the table when he entered, a small space cleared for the two of them to eat breakfast.

“Hey, I just wanted to let you guys know that I’m heading out to meet with the others now. Practice might run late again, so I’ll let you know if I’ll be home late.”   
  
He wasn’t planning on going to practice at all, but there was no need to worry them by making that known. Although he did feel a bit bad about lying, finding Clay was his top priority, and school was nowhere near enough of an incentive to stop him from spending the day searching town. Before he could properly leave the house though, Lainie spoke up. “Justin honey we need to talk before you go.”

“Uh, alright, but the others are waiting so I don’t want to take too long.”

She nodded, and continued, “We’re all worried about Clay, but we don’t want that to get in the way of your schoolwork, so if you think you’ll have trouble focusing then you need to let us know so we can help. On top of that, we also want you to check in with us at the end of every class, and during lunch so we know you’re safe. You can call or text either of us, and we’ll make sure that the other knows you’re okay. Or if you want to contact both of us that would be wonderful too.”

She continued for a few minutes, listing off the various things she wanted Justin to do so that they could confirm his safety, and it made him smile for the first time since coming home last night. His mom would never have cared this much about his well being or safety; she never cared when he went missing for days at a time with no explanation, so having someone want to be constantly updated on his condition felt nice. He knew that Clay found it overbearing, but to Justin it was perfect parenting.

When Matt finally convinced Lainie to release him, Justin mouthed a thanks before bidding them goodbye and walking out the front door. He decided to take Clay’s Prius to Monet’s, partially because it was faster, partially because he hoped that somehow Clay would see it and come to him. He yawned upon sitting at the wheel, and looked in the rear view mirror to see the dark circles under his eyes as evidence of his fatigue. "This is going to be a long day." He sighed before pulling onto the road and driving to Monet’s. 

After parking the car, he walked in and saw that he was the last one to arrive; everyone else was seated at a table near the back. He walked over to them, but before he could even sit down everyone started asking questions all at once.

“So what happened?”

“Do you know anything new yet?”

“How are you doing with this?”

“Have the cops found anything?”

“Tony said you found his phone?”

“Are you gonna look for him today?”

As usual, Tony was the voice of reason in their group and shushed everyone before motioning for Justin to take a seat. “Jesus you guys, I know you’re worried but let the man sit at least.”

There were a few muttered apologies before Justin started speaking, “So uh, we still don’t really know anything about what happened. I got home late last night, and the cops were already all over the house. I grabbed his phone from his car while they were still in the house, but other than that I don’t really have anything to go on.”

Alex was the next to talk, “Well I didn’t really get a chance to talk to my dad about it last night, but I can ask him some stuff if he’s home tonight. But you do know that the first thing they’ll try to do is trace his phone right? If you still have it then they might see that as withholding evidence or something.”

“Shit, I didn’t even think about that, “Justin said, “I just wanted to have something that might help me find him.”

Alex shrugged and said, “Well I doubt it’s a big problem if you hand it over sooner rather than later. Just say you found it under his bed or something.” 

Zach spoke next, “So if you don’t really have anything to say, why did you ask us to come here?”

Jess gave him an incredulous look and said, “Seriously Zach? Show some tact, he obviously needs support from his friends.” 

“Oh right, yeah of course. We’ve got your back dude.” 

Tony cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention before saying, “Well yeah, it’s important that we support each other during this, but there was something we actually wanted to ask you all to do.” 

Justin continued, “Yeah, so um… Tony and I are planning to skip school today to look for him, so if you guys could like, keep an ear out or something? I dunno like if you just happen to hear anything in the halls let us know?”

Jess was the first to reply, “Of course we can, but are you sure you don’t want us to look with you?”

Zach followed up and said, “Yeah dude, I can drive around looking too.”

Justin shook his head and answered, “No guys it’s fine. I don’t want to get you in trouble. Besides, you’ll have a better chance of finding stuff out if you’re all together. Maybe ask some other people you think we can trust to help too.”

Alex nodded and said, “Yeah okay. We could probably ask those guys Clay was with at the dance. I’m sure they would be willing to help.” Suddenly, his eyes widened and he said, “Shit. The dance, what are we supposed to do about Tyler? Clay is like, the only person he trusts right now.”

Zach squirmed uncomfortably in his seat as Tony said, “I don’t know. Tyler seems to be doing a bit better lately though, right? Maybe he’ll be okay without Clay for a bit. Either way I don’t think we should tell him about this. We’ll have to adjust the schedule so that we can still keep an eye on him.”

Justin looked at everyone and said, “Really? You’re worried about Tyler now? Who cares about that when Clay is god knows where!” 

“Quiet down Justin, we don’t want everyone hearing us.” Jess tried to calm him down, but Justin was still high strung, and the craving from earlier was starting to become stronger. Or maybe it was just proof that he was weak. 

Regardless, he sunk down in his chair and let Alex speak again. “I know that Clay needs our help, but Tyler does too. You actually saw him that night, and you saw what Clay did. We already have it hard enough with some people not helping,” Alex glanced at Zach who did his best to blend into the wall behind him, “so we really need everyone to work together here. Clay will be fine. Besides, when we find him, don’t you think he’d be pretty pissed if he found out we started ignoring Tyler just because he wasn’t around?”

Justin lightly chuckled at that and said, “Yeah man, you’re right.” He shook his head and sighed. “I guess we can figure out how to do both. But I’m still gonna make finding Clay my top priority, I don’t care what that means with Tyler.”

Alex begrudgingly accepted Justin’s terms, and Zach finally felt that it was safe to speak again. “So uh, are we gonna stay here much longer? I mean, school starts soon so…”

Tony waved them off and said, “Yeah, go ahead. Call us if you find out anything.”

Jess made them promise to do the same before the three left and Justin and Tony stayed behind to plan their strategy. “Alright Justin, did you bring his phone with you?” 

Justin nodded and pulled it out. “Yeah, but if I’m gonna have to hand it over to the police then should I take it back home? What if they trace it while we’re out looking?”

Tony thought for a minute and replied, “I don’t really know what the best move is, but we can at least take a look right now before the cops get ahold of it. I assume you know the password?”

Justin opened the phone as his response, and the two spent the next several minutes poring through texts, call logs, voicemails, and anything else they thought might give them any information as to Clay’s whereabouts. Eventually Justin sighed and threw his hands in the air saying, “This is pointless, there’s nothing here. I should’ve just let the police find it instead.”

Tony wasn’t quite as quick to give up and kept looking through a few things, eventually opening the camera app. “Hey Justin, take a look at this.” Justin turned his gaze to the phone, and saw the most recent picture that Clay had taken was extremely blurry with a large part of the picture blocked by presumably a thumb, and it was hard to tell what it was.

“Hooray, some dumb picture that we can’t even see,” He said sarcastically, “What are we supposed to do with that Tony?”

Tony pointed out a specific spot on the picture and said, “No look here, you see? It’s hard to tell but doesn’t this look like broken glass or something? And this red spot has to be blood.”

Justin looked a bit closer, squinting to try and see better, and he was able to make out the broken glass that Tony was pointing out. It was strange though, he had seen the blood splatter and broken vase, but the vase had been ceramic, not glass. How did the glass get there, and where did it go by the time Justin had arrived? 

Those questions were important, but what really struck Justin was that they now had a picture of when the crime took place. His eyes widened and he exclaimed, “Dude we can use this!” He quieted his voice as he noticed people looking, and continued, “This picture shows the moment it all happened. But when I was there yesterday, that glass wasn’t on the ground. There was a vase, but it wasn’t made of glass.”

“So then either the police cleaned it up, or our culprit did.” Tony’s words made Justin stop and think for a second. He hadn’t considered the possibility that someone had actually done something to Clay. Until this point he had been thinking of this as  _ how  _ something happened to his brother, not  _ who _ would want to hurt him. The thought that someone would go out of their way to harm him was sickening, although he definitely knew a few people who had a bone to pick.

Justin voiced his concerns, saying, “Do you think it could have been Bryce or Monty? Maybe one of Bryce’s other guys?”

Tony shrugged and replied, “I don’t know, it could be. They definitely don’t like Clay, but I don’t think Bryce is stupid enough to do anything right now. His probation may be shorter than yours, but he’s still not able to do anything. As for one of the others, you know them better than I do. Do you think it could be them?”

He was a bit uncomfortable at the mention of when he and Bryce used to be friends, but Justin took the time to think through all the people that hung around Bryce and Monty to see if they were capable of this. Monty was obviously a huge asshole, and super violent, but Justin didn’t think he would go for organized crime. He was always more of an in the moment type of person, so it was possible if he and Clay had happened to randomly meet, but that seemed unlikely since everything happened at the house. Scott was obviously off the table; he had helped them when everything was going on with the polaroids, and it seemed like he and Clay had even begun to talk a bit and start a small friendship after everything ended. Besides, he had already graduated and was off at college. Charlie was new, so Justin didn’t know him as well, but he seemed like a good kid even if he did hang around Monty, and he had never met Bryce, so the chance of corruption there was low. Justin spent a solid fifteen minutes going through everyone from that group, trying to figure out if it was possible they could be involved, but other than the very slight possibility of Monty, he couldn’t think of any reason to suspect any of them would be able to do something like this.

Tony had gotten drinks while Justin was thinking, and when he finally came out of the clouds he saw a steaming hot coffee sitting on the table in front of him. Nodding to Tony as thanks, he took a sip and set it down before explaining his thoughts. 

Tony took it all in and spent a considerably shorter amount of time thinking it over. “Alright, so we can probably cross them off the list, but just in case let’s tell Zach to keep an eye on Monty for a few days.”

Justin nodded again, and finished his coffee quickly before standing up and saying, “Alright, we’ve sat around long enough. We only have so much daylight to look around, and if we don’t find  _ something _ today, I’m going to lose it.” 

Tony smiled and patted him on the back, replying, “We’ll figure it out. That’s what friends are for.” And the two went out to their respective cars to begin the search around town for something, anything that could give them the slightest hint to where Clay might be.

  
  


* * *

  
  
  


This time, when Clay woke up, it wasn’t natural like it had been last time. No, this time he was rudely awoken by a bucket of ice cold water being unceremoniously tossed on his sleeping form. So now, he was cold, tired, in pain,  _ and _ wet. Whoever had splashed him clearly didn’t think it did the job well enough, because in a matter of seconds his arm was caught in a powerful grip and was dragged to his feet, wincing as pain shot through his head at the sudden movement. 

Clay was only slightly surprised to see that Seth wasn’t the one in the room this time. He had already figured out that Seth wasn’t working alone when he remembered that it was someone else who had attacked him at home. The only new information now was that Seth had at least two people working with him, since this guy in front of him was a complete stranger. “Get up, someone’s here to see you.”

Against his better judgement, Clay snapped back at him, “Oh I am up. You just pulled me, remember? Or are you dumb?” Clay really should’ve seen it coming when the man punched him in the stomach, but Seth’s words made it seem like they needed him for something, so he had been willing to risk it. And now that risk had him on the ground on all fours, coughing and wiping tears from his eyes as he glared at his attacker. 

“Act up again and I’ll really hurt you,” The man said smugly, “I’m not allowed to kill you, but otherwise I can do what I want to keep you in line.”

_ Nice to know Seth keeps company as violent as he is, _ Clay thought to himself,  _ Well, I don’t really have a choice other than to play along for now. If he wants me to go somewhere then maybe they’ll undo these chains and I can escape. _

Satisfied with his admittedly shoddy plan, Clay stood up slowly before walking in the direction the man was indicating. He was careful not to let himself trip over the chains this time, and noticed that they actually gave him quite a bit more space to move around than he originally thought. If he hadn’t tripped on them before he might’ve actually been able to get a good scope of the room. The realization that the chains were plenty long to let him walk around meant that he was probably wrong about them being taken off to meet whoever was here. He cursed internally, not willing to give any satisfaction to the people keeping him here, but finally made it to a corner of the room. Or at least a spot where he could see the corner, the chain wasn’t long enough for him to actually reach it.

In the dim lighting, he could make out a figure standing in the corner, so he stood around waiting for whatever was supposed to happen next. He expected them to just hit him again, or something else physical, and he could deal with that. A little pain and internal bleeding had never stopped him before, but what he couldn’t deal with was what actually happened. The person standing there started to get a bit closer, to the point where Clay was able to make out very faint details in the dim lighting. Details such as short brown hair, a similar height to his own, and a blue letterman jacket that looked all too familiar. 

Clay wasn’t sure whether to feel happy or horrified at first, but quickly settled on horrified when he realized who this person must be. As they came even closer though, Clay’s horror quickly turned to anger and he yelled, “Oh you think this is real funny huh!? Seriously, what kind of a joke is this? Let me go you sick fucks!” 

The person in front of him just started laughing, as did the man who had woken him up in the first place. Soon enough, Seth came through the door laughing as well and said, “Oh you didn’t like our little prank? My friend here has a kid that goes to your school, thought you might like to see a familiar face. Or at least, familiar jacket.”

The other man still standing near the center of the room started walking over and said, “And you thought I was dumb. Can’t believe you thought your brother was here to save you or whatever.” 

Clay screamed in frustration and yelled at them, “Fuck you! Fuck all of you!” He shoved the man in the jacket, but Seth grabbed his wrist and squeezed tight. Tighter than the man who had woken him, and it was surprisingly painful, especially when Seth started digging his nails in.

“Now I don’t think I need to remind you what happens if you can’t behave yourself, do I?” Clay swallowed thickly and forced himself to calm down. Getting angry was exactly what these people wanted. They wanted an excuse to hurt him like it was some kind of sick game they were playing. He wasn’t going to give them that satisfaction, so he simply shook his head in response and when Seth threw his arm down, he walked back over to the pole he was attached to and sat down. Quickly inspecting his arm, he saw that Seth had actually managed to pierce his skin, but the small amount of blood coming forth wouldn’t cause any lasting harm, so he ignored it in favor of glaring in the direction his tormentors were. He couldn’t see them anymore in the dark, but he was sure the three were smirking evilly at him. 

Clay then realized something else; the person in the jacket was also unfamiliar to him. That was at least three other people Seth had recruited to help with his revenge on Justin, and who knew how many others he had. Clay suddenly understood that he had underestimated Seth, assuming he was just some pathetic dealer who had no backbone. Justin had told him Seth was dangerous, but Clay always assumed that the only reason he didn’t fight back was to protect his mom. Only now was he starting to understand what Justin had meant, and he was starting to wish he never had.

As the three others walked out of the room, Clay heard one of them call out, “If you sit still like a good little boy, maybe we’ll bring you something to eat next time.” And once the door closed behind them, Clay immediately heard his stomach growl for the first time since being here. He groaned as he now felt hunger throughout his body. It was entirely unfair of them to put the thought of food in his head, and from they said, he wouldn’t be eating anytime soon. He had no idea what Seth wanted, but making him suffer was clearly just a bonus if that stunt was anything to go by. 

He offhandedly wondered what time it was, or if a new day had started, what the weather was like, how school was going. There wasn’t much else to do besides wonder what was going on outside. His other option was to get up and walk around, but he didn’t really feel like moving at the moment. He was still somewhat embarrassed that he had let Seth and his goons trick him into thinking Justin was here, when they had made it pretty clear that they didn’t need him for whatever they were planning. 

Although he had now created a situation where he was worried about Justin, since he had basically just shown them how much they cared about each other. Seth could use that to get to Justin, and Clay wouldn’t put it past him to make Justin sacrifice himself for Clay’s safety. The especially terrifying part was that he knew Justin would do it. Justin had a low opinion of himself even on the best days, so if he was asked to weigh his life against someone else’s, his choice would be obvious.

After a while of sitting around stewing in his thoughts, Clay decided that he should examine the room more closely, now that he knew his range was bigger than he thought. Unfortunately, everything was just how he expected it would be. The walls were all completely smooth, and there were no windows or any kind of holes he could take advantage of to sneak out. He hadn’t been able to reach the corners of the room near the door, but the chain was just long enough for him to reach the wall on the opposite side. He briefly wondered what his chances of digging through the wall with a spoon was, before shaking his head and promising himself to watch less TV after getting out. After taking a few minutes to walk around, he pieced together that he was most likely in a basement somewhere. It would explain the poor lighting, and structural support for above. He assumed that the door led to a set of stairs that would take him up, and unless he suddenly developed some insane digging skills or a teleportation device, that would be his only way out.

Once he had finished taking stock of his situation yet again, he went back to his pole to sit down. He didn’t know why he kept gravitating back over there. Maybe it was because it was just where he woke up, or maybe he felt safer under the lone light bulb. Regardless, it was where he chose to be, and he was just going to have to wait until one of the people keeping him trapped messed up enough for him to mount an escape. He stared up at the ceiling as he let his thoughts drift once more.

_ Cool. So I’m tired, hurting, cold, wet, and now even hungry. That’s just great, can’t wait for the next thing they make me feel. At least the ground is smooth, it would suck if it was covered in rocks or something. The walls are a nice gray too, perfect for painting on. Huh, wonder how Skye is doing. We haven’t spoken in a while, although I guess that was kind of the point of her moving. Honestly can’t say I disagree with her decision to get out of Crestmont. This place sucks. Ugh, I just wish these people would let me go already. I’ve made it clear I don’t have money, and if all they want to do is hurt me then why bother keeping me here in the first place? If this all somehow goes back to Justin does that mean they’ll actually bring him in here at some point? I guess it makes sense, but Seth kept saying they didn’t need him if they have me. I just can’t figure out what he thinks I can do to hurt Justin. He’s my brother for christ’s sake, I don’t want to hurt him.  _

Another set of shivers overtook him at the same time his stomach growled again, and he let his head fall back against the pole. That wasn’t his best idea however, as he winced immediately as sharp pain shot through his head. However, the jolt reminded him of another thing that happened when he was first attacked. 

_ I remember now! After that guy shoved me to the ground he walked in and started coming closer. I backed up to try and get some space between us and managed to make it to the fireplace somehow, and… that’s it. I don’t remember anything else, but I feel like there’s more. Something else I’m not remembering. I feel so close but my stupid head won’t cooperate with me. Guess now I know how Alex felt.  _

He smiled as he thought about his friends, and let himself sit there for a while just reminiscing about all they’d gone through recently. The memories weren’t happy exactly, but they did lead up to a lot of good things. Jess having the courage to confront Bryce and get closure. Alex coming to terms with what he did and starting to forgive himself. Tyler had shown a lot of growth recently, opening up a bit more and talking about why he had come so close to…  _ that _ . 

But the thing that really stuck out in Clay’s head, was that if none of this had happened, he never would’ve gained Justin as a brother. They were still working out the kinks in their relationship, sure, but Clay had never felt closer to someone than he did with Justin. He knew that they could talk with each other about anything, and he felt like he could trust the other with his life. He would give his own for Justin in a heartbeat, and the stark contrast of their relationship compared to just a few months ago was both heartwarming, and heartbreaking. It sucked that they all had to go through so much to reach this point, but they did bring at least some of it on themselves, so they couldn’t complain too much. Regardless, thinking of the people close to him helped Clay to ignore the hunger pangs, and the cold, and whatever else these people would do to him. Just like always, he would live for the sake of others, and there was no chance in hell that he would allow these kidnappers to get what they want.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I have no excuse for not posting this. It's literally been done for days now, and I just never actually put it up. So uh, sorry about that I guess...
> 
> As for the next one, I recently just got someone who agreed to beta for me, and assuming that works out, I should be able to get new chapters edited more quickly, which should in theory lead to them being uploaded more quickly. Maybe. If I'm not lazy. :P
> 
> Anyway, thanks for sticking with me, and hope to see you in the next one!


	3. Flickering Hope

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Justin is starting to feel the effects of not having Clay around, to his own detriment. He tries to fight off his demons, but without his main support system, it proves to be rather difficult. Clay, on the other hand, has to deal with new injuries almost daily, if his concept of time can even recognize a day anymore. He wants nothing more than to be free, but he's slowly starting to realize that achieving that goal won't be as easy as he originally thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Drug use, kidnapping, violence, vomiting

Justin hadn’t seen Alex, Zach, or Jess since they all met at Monet’s last week. His entire focus had been on finding Clay, and although they all still texted each other, Tony was the only one he had actually met up with. He had managed to skip school up until the weekend, when the office finally called home to report his truancy for that week. Although he had never been so thankful for the incompetence of Liberty High’s staff, it unfortunately earned him a grounding for that weekend, and he wasn’t able to go looking for Clay at all. Matt and Lainie even forced him to stay in Clay’s old room again, to make it harder to sneak out.

Harder, but not impossible.

He knew it wasn’t fair to ask Jess to meet him so late at night, but the only free time he had was when Matt and Lainie were asleep, and he could climb out the window without them knowing. He had called Jess almost immediately after escaping the house, and although she was tired, she agreed to meet him at Monet’s. Of course, the café was already closed, but it was a recognizable landmark, and Justin needed a sense of familiarity to combat the nerves that had been invading his body ever since Clay disappeared. The drugs helped with that too, but he was trying hard not to let them control his life anymore. He had never truly stayed clean after his relapse the night of the Spring Fling, but he had managed to end up in a sort of staggered use schedule. Just enough to never need to go through that detox again. The problem was that his main motivation for trying to get clean had always been Clay, and he felt immense guilt at the trusting gaze his brother gave him whenever the topic came up. Now that his motivation was suddenly missing, it was getting a lot harder to control the cravings that ate away at his very soul.

He waited outside the café for Jess to arrive, rubbing his arms to combat the constant chill in the air. She finally walked up, yawning, and Justin realized how selfish he was to ask her to leave her warm bed in the middle of the night just so that he could feel better about Clay. As she approached, he made his sympathies known. “Hey Jess. Thanks for meeting me. Sorry, did I wake you?”

“It’s fine Justin. I haven’t seen you all week, so I was wondering about you anyway. How are you holding up? I know it’s hard not knowing where he is, but we’ll find him.”

Justin wished he could believe her, but there was an annoying voice in his head that kept telling him it was pointless to look. That Clay was probably already dead, and he was wasting his time trying to prove otherwise. That was a major reason he increased his usage recently, the drugs silenced that voice for at least a brief while. Right now though, the more important voice was Jessica’s and it was doing wonders in helping him to stay calm. To anyone else, he would’ve lied and said that he was fine, but with her he felt safe admitting his weakness, “It’s pretty rough honestly. I want to keep hope, but I keep thinking about ‘what if,’ you know?”

“I get it Justin. I’m sure I’d feel the same way if it was either of my brothers, but you have to remember that Clay’s smart, and he’s tough. He got through everything with Tyler, and even dragged you back here in your lowest time. He’s not going to take any risks that could put his life at risk, you know that.”

What Jessica said was entirely logical, Justin knew that. He wasn’t sure if he agreed with her though. Instead, he thought that it was very possible for Clay to do something stupid and reckless and end up getting hurt. From what Justin had seen, Clay had next to no self-preservation instinct, and that was a huge factor contributing to his fears. It didn’t help that there wasn’t a ransom note, or anything else to determine if whoever had Clay planned on releasing him anytime soon. He didn’t want to drag down the mood even further though, so he tried his best to show a weak smile and replied, “Yeah, Clay’s the toughest guy I know. Almost makes me regret picking on him last year.” 

It was supposed to be humorous, and perhaps if Clay had been present and had his own witty comeback, it might have been. The only response, however, was a forced laugh from Jessica and Justin’s heart shattering as he thought about how most of his interactions with Clay had been negative. This was the point where anxiety and self-loathing kicked in, and made him realize how desperate he was for the liquid sanity that would keep him calm in times of crisis like this. He shook with chills and broke out into a spontaneous sweat. His entire body was telling him that it was time to shoot up again, but he and Jess had barely spoken for ten minutes, and he couldn’t call her out and then leave after a short conversation they could’ve easily had on the phone. He decided to walk around with her for a while, trading the information they had while pretending to look for Clay. Their information lasted only for another few minutes, and it was too dark to actually see anything wherever they checked, but neither was willing to break the safety bubble that Justin needed in order to reassure himself that Clay was safe. It wasn’t very effective, but it lasted long enough for him to feel like he hadn't completely wasted Jess's time by calling her out here. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to stop him from injecting himself with the only thing that could completely calm his nerves, as soon as he got home.

Arriving home, he snuck into the outhouse to shoot up before quickly packing everything away and making the climb back up to Clay’s old room. Under normal circumstances he would have liked to stay and linger in the feelings the high brought, but the chances of Matt or Lainie checking on him only to see an empty room were too high to risk, so he was forced to make it quick. When he entered the room, he was relieved to see that nothing was out of place, so he assumed that nobody noticed he was gone. He sat on the bed, placing his phone on the desk next to him and rubbing his eyes as he tried to ignore the anxiety that clawed at him whenever he was reminded that Clay was missing. It happened a lot, since everything seemed to serve as some reminder of his brother. Even if the drugs helped keep him calm, they couldn’t completely fight off the powerful fear he felt for Clay’s safety.

Now that he was finally home though, he laid down with no intention of falling asleep. Nightmares had plagued him since the first night Clay went missing, and he was reluctant to surrender himself to their terrifying grip. Sometimes they weren’t bad, just Clay telling him that he still hated him and wished they weren’t brothers. Other times he had nightmares that truly ripped his heart into shreds, where Clay would die in front of his eyes, just seconds before Justin was able to help him. He couldn’t ignore how prophetic those dreams felt to him, that Clay would be just out of his reach until it was too late. The immense guilt he felt at being unable to find Clay convinced him that he deserved to suffer though, and he ended up turning to the needle more as a result. It was a vicious cycle he was trapped in; guilty about Clay being missing, getting high to reduce the guilt, only for guilt about getting high to settle in right after.

He also felt guilty for lying to Matt and Lainie about school. Even though he wanted to help Clay, they had treated him better than his mom ever had, and he was almost starting to feel comfortable considering them his parents. Despite that, he went behind their backs and did something he knew would upset them, and it made him think that even though everything was going fine now, he would inevitably find some way to mess it up, and then they would kick him out. That was what Justin was used to fearing anyways, and even though the Jensens seemed different, it was hard to kick old habits. 

Now that Matt and Lainie had found out that he was skipping school, it was basically impossible for him to spend the entire day looking like he had been. He texted Tony about it when he was first grounded, and Tony promised to spend his weekend canvassing places they hadn’t checked yet. Justin asked for updates periodically, and although Tony always replied, Justin couldn’t shake the feelings of worthlessness that stemmed from being forced to stay home. Justin would have to somehow convince Matt and Lainie to let him look around after school once the new week started, no matter what it took. They had to understand that sitting around doing nothing was slowly killing him, and he needed to feel helpful so he didn’t lose his mind with worry and fear.

Those were the kind of thoughts that kept him awake all through the night, but he still vastly preferred the depressing introspection and analysis of his current situation over the nightmares. When the light of the sun finally came through the window, he forced himself to get up and slowly trudged downstairs to where Lainie was coming in from a morning run. She had gone on quite a few this past week, and Justin wasn’t sure if it was to quell her own anxieties, or if she secretly wanted to spend every waking moment looking for Clay too. It was likely a combination of both. 

Lainie was standing in front of the open refrigerator, taking out ingredients to prepare breakfast for the family. “Good morning Justin. You’re up early, did you get enough sleep?”

He smiled and replied, “Yeah definitely. Slept like a log.” He hesitated for a moment, wondering if it was the right time to talk about the coming week. In the end, he couldn’t contain himself and said, “Hey, can we talk about something?”

She closed the refrigerator door and gave Justin her full attention. “Of course, we can talk about anything.”

“So I know I’m grounded because I went to look for Clay—”

She interrupted him. “You weren’t grounded because you want to help your brother. You were grounded because you let it get in the way of your other responsibilities, like school, and because you lied to us.”

“Right yeah. Yeah of course, sorry.” He shook his head and carried on speaking. “So anyway, I was hoping that when I go back tomorrow, I could still spend some time looking around. After school I mean.”

She took a few moments to consider her words before answering. “Justin honey, you know that with Clay gone, we’re worried about something happening to you too. It’s just how things are as a parent. When something happens to one of your children, you can’t help but feel nervous about the other one.”

He nodded, not bothering to correct her that they were Clay’s parents, and Justin didn’t deserve them, since he knew it just upset her. “We know you want to help out, and we’re so happy that you love Clay enough you would be willing to risk so much to find him. But we’re also worried about what that could mean. If you do find Clay, and he was hurt or in a dangerous situation, you would throw yourself right in there with him, wouldn’t you?”

Justin opened his mouth to protest, but with a pointed glare from Lainie, he instead nodded meekly in response. “Things like that are part of what make me so concerned about your safety, even if there’s no risk that someone might want to take you too. Which is another possibility we haven’t discussed.” Neither said anything for a while, but after some time had passed with an impromptu staring contest, Lainie sighed and said, “As long as you understand all the risks, and what you mean to us as a family, I will talk to Matt and we will _consider_ letting you go. But even if we do there will be strict rules you have to follow or else the privilege will be taken away. Do you understand me?”

Justin hadn’t expected the conversation to go so easily in his favor. He was much more used to fighting against adults that wanted to force him into bad situations,and he had been prepared to get into a shouting match with Lainie if that’s what it took to help Clay. He wasn’t about to complain though, since it seemed that his chances of getting what he wanted were relatively high. He just had to make sure that he didn’t do anything to mess it up by doing anything before tomorrow. He agreed to Lainie’s terms without any fuss, and helped her prepare breakfast afterward. Matt came down to join them a little while later, and the three ate breakfast at the table like they normally would. However, just like every other day this past week, the empty seat destroyed any normalcy the meal may have had, and the hole in each of their hearts only grew larger as despair and worry slowly consumed them from inside.

The rest of the morning progressed normally, Matt spent time in his office grading papers and planning his lessons for the week, and Lainie looked over the files that she brought home from the office. Even at home, their chances for breaks were few and far between, but they loved their jobs and wouldn’t have it any other way. Justin found it miraculous that they were both able to juggle so much work while still being involved in Clay’s life. He decided to do some work around the house while they were busy, cleaning up here and there and trying to keep busy so his mind wouldn’t wander. A knock on the door shortly after noon surprised all three of them, and Justin, hopeful that it was the police with news about Clay, called out, “I’ll get it!”

“You don’t have to look so sad to see me.” Zach said upon Justin’s face falling when he opened the door.

“Sorry man, I was just hoping it was news about Clay.”

“I get it dude, I was just messing with you. But uh, I take it that means the police still haven’t found anything?”

Justin stepped into the house and Zach followed him up to Clay’s old room as they continued their conversation. “No, they haven’t. I wish I could be out there right now, but Matt and Lainie would probably drag me back before I could even get down the street.”

Zach chuckled and said, “Yeah I’m not surprised they were upset. First Clay goes missing, and then you lie to them about where you were. You probably scared the shit out of them.”

Justin glared at him, but then sighed and said, “Yeah well Clay’s probably scared out of his shit right now too. And there’s nothing I can do about it.”

Zach took a seat on Clay's bed while Justin sat at the desk, and said, "Sorry. I know it’s hard for you too. I don't even want to think about what I would do if it was May."

“Well I hope you never have to find out. Clay’s the reason I even know what it’s like to have a family. A real one that actually cares about me. He’s my brother, and I hate that I can’t help him like he helped me.” 

Zach placed a hand on Justin’s shoulder and said, “I didn’t know he meant that much to you. It’s kind of hard to grasp how much things have changed between you two ever since the tapes. Things have changed for all of us I guess.”

With a sad smile Justin replied, “Yeah, I never thought I would ever have any of this.” _And I still don’t think I’ve earned it_ , he thought.

They were silent for a few moments while they each weighed their lives before and after receiving that shoebox, but eventually Justin asked, “So why are you here anyway? You didn’t tell me you were coming.”

“Oh right. I had something important to tell you, but before I do, you have to promise not to freak out.”

Justin scrunched his face in confusion and replied, “Uh, okay?”

Before continuing, Zach rose from the bed and closed the door. “So I don’t know if it means anything, but I heard from Luke that Monty told him Charlie was talking with someone on the lacrosse team who has a friend on the volleyball team who—”

Justin raised a hand to stop Zach before he could continue much longer and said, “Cut it out with who said what and just get to the point already.”

“Right, sorry. Anyways. So there’s someone on the wrestling team that’s missing their letterman.”

Zach paused for a moment, and Justin jumped in. “So what Zach? People lose clothes all the time.”

Zach shook his head and replied, “Nah man you don’t get it. This guy is known for super religiously taking care of his. He never even wears it. Apparently he just keeps it in some shrine he built to honor it.”

“So we know he's got a weird obsession with his jacket, I don’t get what that has to do with anything.”

“That’s because I haven’t told you the interesting part yet.” Zach paused to make sure he was listening, and when Justin motioned for Zach to continue, he said, “There are some rumors about this guy’s dad. Apparently he’s some kind of crime lord in their neighborhood.”

Justin suddenly sat up, eyes lasered in on Zach as he said, “So you think he’s the one who took Clay?” 

“I’m not sure, the only info I really have is based on rumors. But I still thought you would want to know.”

Justin leaned back in the chair, placing his hands on his forehead and pulling it back as he let out a puff of air. Finally having a lead other than that useless picture was almost overwhelming, and he wasn’t sure how to react. “I know it’s a lot to dump on you all of a sudden,” Zach added, “So I’ll just let you know that I’m planning to talk to this guy tomorrow at school. You can come along if you want.”

Justin didn’t need to consider his answer for more than half a second, near immediately replying, “Of course I’ll be there. I’m not missing any chance I can get to learn about what happened to Clay.”

Zach smiled at him and replied, “Yeah, that’s what I thought you’d say. I’ll text you more about it later, but for now I should get going. My mom doesn’t actually know I’m here, and she has me under a strict curfew right now. She actually thinks that you’re somehow the cause of what happened, which is crazy.”

Justin’s stomach suddenly felt like he had swallowed a sack of bricks, but tried to laugh off Zach’s comment. It worked well enough, and Zach left shortly after, trying to reassure Justin by saying, “We’ll find him,” as he walked out the door. After Zach was gone, Justin retreated to the outhouse to rise above the low feelings Zach had inadvertently caused. When he entered the room though, he was reminded of how much Clay trusted that he was staying clean, and resolved to wean himself off the drugs before Clay came home. Since that day seemed to be fast approaching, he tried his best to fight off his cravings, and managed to restrict himself to bringing his gym bag up to Clay’s old room instead of actually using anything. He would save what he had left for emergencies, and not buy anything else. By the time he saw Clay again, he would be past withdrawal and the boy would never have to know that Justin had let him down.

It was the best outcome, yet Justin couldn’t bring himself to feel satisfied with his decision. He managed to tear his focus away from the drugs for long enough to offer Matt and Lainie his help with anything they might need throughout the rest of the day, and although he was able to keep himself busy, the inklings of a craving danced in the back of his mind and along his skin, taunting him well into the night as he tried once more to rest.

  
  


* * *

  
  
  


Clay’s eyes had completely adjusted to the darkness of his prison by now, so it always hurt a bit when the door opened and one of Seth’s goons let light flood his vision. He assumed they did it on purpose; they had to know how uncomfortable it was when they shined those flashlights in his face every time they entered the room. It hurt, and it always took way longer than it should for his eyes to readjust to the new lighting. He wondered if it was because of how little they were feeding him, and how his body just wasn’t able to perform the way it was supposed to. He barely had the energy to even bring his arms up to shield his face whenever they came in, and his eyes were sluggish to close before the light reached them. It was just one more type of torture inflicted on him daily.

When they had first brought him here, Clay was hopeful that they weren’t going to hurt him, and he thought he managed to figure out some of their plans. The way Seth had spoken made it seem like they only wanted to hold him here for a bit, maybe scare Justin and then let Clay go home after a day or two. He couldn’t tell time down here, but he was pretty sure that more than a few days had passed. In that time he had only been allowed to eat once, and was given water twice; nowhere near enough for his body to function the same way it normally did. He still had enough strength to crawl around if he wanted, but even then it was a struggle to move more than a few feet at any given moment. He was trying to conserve the little energy he had so that he could hopefully mount an escape at some point, but he wasn't entirely sure his body could support him. His mind was as sharp as ever, but there was only so much malnourishment it could take before ending up like his body, so he needed to figure out an escape plan as soon as possible.

The chain keeping him securely fastened to the pole was the biggest obstacle he faced. He wasn’t strong enough to break through metal without some kind of tool, and that was before he lacked the nutrition to perform at top capacity. He knew it was only going to get worse the longer he stayed though, so his window of opportunity was shrinking day by day. He had attempted a few plans already, but so far all he had discovered was that Seth personally held the key to his chains, and never brought it into the room with him, and that if he made too much noise, Seth was more than happy to send his goons in to shut him up. Clay’s ribs still hurt as a reminder of that lesson.

The aches throughout his body were only part of the reason he tensed upon the door opening, and one of the goons walking in. They had never bothered giving their names, and Clay was too focused on trying to protect himself to ask for the information. He never knew what would happen when they entered the room, but more often than not they left after at least adding some new bruises to his already blackened body, and there had been several occasions where they did much worse. Today was no exception; as soon as the goon reached him, he greeted Clay with a swift kick to the stomach, and as he fell over, coughing and sputtering for air, the goon pressed his boot down into Clay’s chest making it even harder for him to recover. 

The goon taunted Clay as his lungs struggled to draw in the oxygen he needed. “We’re going to play a fun little game. I’m going to ask you some questions, and if you get the answer right, I’ll let you breathe. And if you don’t…” The goon pressed his foot harder into Clay’s chest and at that moment he couldn't be bothered to try conserving his energy because _he couldn't breathe_. His vision started going black and his head was hurting, and he panicked, desperately trying to take in air. His fear clouded his judgement until he was hyperventilating, but with his airway restricted it only served to reduce his precious oxygen even more. Clay tried to bring his arms up to pry the foot off of him, but in his weakened state the most he could do was flail about. As a mercy, the goon released some of the pressure shortly after, and Clay greedily gulped in as much air as he could manage.

His respite was short lived however, as the goon pressed down again, though not quite as roughly, and said, “First question. Does Justin Foley live with you?”

Clay’s first instinct was to stay silent, but he reasoned that it was safe to answer the question if they already knew the answer. The problem was going to be in figuring out what they already knew, so he could limit the amount of new information he gave them. All he had to work with was assumptions, but it was better than completely giving in. With his lungs compressed, speaking would be difficult, so he responded by nodding his head, and almost immediately the pressure lessened. He took a few deep breaths to soothe his aching head and lungs, but the goon only gave him a few seconds of air before pressing down again.

“Good, so you do understand how this works, which means I can move on to the next question. Has Justin ever hurt you?”

Clay tried to look at the goon’s face for any kind of hint on whether he knew the truth, but wasn’t able to come up with an answer that satisfied him. He took the risk and chose not to respond; he wasn’t sure what advantage they would gain from knowing about his and Justin’s history, but he was going to do his damndest to make sure they didn’t learn anything. Unfortunately, it worked to his detriment, as the goon chose to lift his foot from Clay’s body before slamming down full force, leaving him gasping and coughing with a sharp pain in his abdomen. He barely had a chance to catch his breath before the pressure returned even more harshly, and with it came tears that stung his eyes and clouded his vision. 

“Answer the question or it’ll only get worse.”

Clay didn’t know how much more he could take; just this much had left him feeling on the verge of unconsciousness. He didn’t want to help his kidnappers though, so he had to quickly think of a way to change the flow in his favor. Preparing his body for another assault, Clay managed to gasp out, “Be more specific.”

It was a gamble to give an order to the goon, but Clay hoped that it would make him seem more compliant, and push them to give up some more information about their goal. It could just as easily backfire and end up with him in more pain, but with the way things were going, he had no choice but to play a little dangerously to achieve his own goals. Besides, his body was slowly starting to get used to the lack of oxygen, or maybe he just couldn’t think straight because of the light-headedness.

To his surprise and glee, the goon answered, “Has he ever hit you?”

Clay was able to answer honestly this time, but he stayed purposefully vague to try and keep the goon confused. “He’s been no rougher than any other high school boy in P.E.” 

The goon grunted but pulled his foot away so that it was barely touching Clay’s chest, and moved on to the next question. “How long have you been here?”

Clay rolled his eyes and replied, “You already know the answer to that one. In case you forgot, I’ve been stuck in this basement for a while with no way to tell time.”

In response to his snark, the goon stomped on Clay once more, this time resulting in a loud snap from his arm. Clay cried out in pain and lost his hold on the tears he had kept at bay until this point. He knew that these men were aggressive, but he didn’t want to back down from the challenge and seem weak to them. That would mean they won, and giving them that satisfaction would only serve to worsen Clay’s predicament. However, this was the first possibly permanent injury they had given him, and up until then he had thought they wouldn’t go so far. It could mean that they were losing patience, or maybe they just didn’t care about keeping him alive anymore, but it showed Clay that he needed to play the willing victim more than he had been, or else risk further damage to his already weakened body. 

“Have you ever done drugs?” The goon certainly didn’t seem to care about the scream that had erupted from his throat, he just continued on with his messed up game.

Despite his vision being unfocused and his thoughts clouded by the pain, Clay managed to grit his teeth and quietly reply, “No. I’m not a junkie.” 

The goon grinned before moving on to his next question. “Do you remember who brought you here?”

“Of course I do.” It was a blatant lie, but Clay hoped that his bluff wouldn’t get called. If he was honest, he couldn’t remember anything about when he was taken. He couldn’t figure out why, but the events had completely vanished from his brain, and if not for the constant reminder he received from being held prisoner, he probably would’ve assumed it had happened to someone else. It was a strange feeling to know something had happened, but be completely unable to recall everything leading up to it. 

After several seconds of silence, the goon raised his foot and kicked Clay’s head, knocking it into the pole. Clay saw stars as the goon said, “This is what happens when you lie.” 

Clay’s concussion from when he was taken hadn’t properly healed, so to have his head struck twice left him incredibly addled and pained. Right after the painful contact, Clay vomited up the little bit of food that remained in his stomach, along with a significant amount of bile. He didn’t have the presence of mind to realize that a lot of his vomit ended up on the goon’s shoes. As a result, he didn’t recognize the need to protect himself from the violent barrage that followed immediately after. It was the most pain Clay had been in since coming here, and it left him barely able to move. He wouldn’t have dared to move even if he could, too afraid that the pain would worsen.

Thankfully the assault was short lived, but by the time it was over, Clay could only barely feel the goon spit on face because of how close he was to falling unconscious. The goon turned and walked to the door he entered from, and before exiting the room, he said, “You’re just lucky Seth wants you alive. If I was in charge, we would’ve offed you within a day.”

It took several minutes for Clay to realize that the door had closed; everything seemed like it was moving in slow motion. He tried to sit up, but the pain of his injuries made it too difficult to move, even when he tried to use the pole for support. He resigned to continue laying down, but tried to figure out the purpose of the questions he’d been asked. His sluggish mind was only able to come up with one explanation in the end, that it was just an excuse for them to hurt him even more. If the violence he had just experienced was any indication, they weren’t holding back anymore either, and it scared him. He knew that soon enough, they would grow tired of the games, and just outright attack him, but the only thing he could do was hope that someone would find him soon. This stupid game had served to show Clay that he wouldn’t be able to escape on his own, especially if all of Seth’s goons were like the one he just dealt with. So far the evidence supported that theory, so he figured that his best plan of action was to prepare himself for the torture that was sure to come. It wouldn’t be easy, but he had to persevere, and he held out hope that his family was still looking for him.

The only person that Clay wanted as far away from this mess as possible was Justin, since it was obvious that this all somehow tied back to Seth’s personal issues with him. He knew that Justin was extremely self sacrificial, and Clay’s protective instinct meant that he wanted to keep him safe from whatever form of revenge Seth was planning. It was a futile hope, he knew, for Justin to stay out of this, so a few hours later (at least he assumed it was hours) Clay amended his hope so that Justin would remain as safe and happy as he had been since joining their family when everything was said and done. It was all he could do, but it didn’t feel like enough. 

With a groan, he forced himself to roll onto his back and stare at the ceiling. “If you’re gonna save me then hurry it up Justin.”

After making his demand, he finally closed his eyes willingly, and allowed the darkness he’d been fighting off to surround him in the hopes that he could at least find some peace in sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time is a thing that exists, and much of mine has been consumed by school and Final Fantasy 14, but luckily the semester just ended and now I have time to write more. Unfortunately, those plans I spoke of last time where someone was going to beta for me kind of fell through, so I'm stuck editing my own stuff. That just means it takes a bit longer for me to actually get chapters posted though, so uh, depending on if you like this or not I guess it really isn't a bit deal. Anyway, I sort of added this chapter on a whim, and since it wasn't part of my original plan, I have to go back and rewrite all the other chapters I planned for the future. That shouldn't take too too long though, so hopefully I can upload the next one relatively soon.  
> Sorry for the extra paragraph in the notes, but thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed!


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